Apparently he bought 100k worth of jewelry with 30k down. The jewelry store gave him a 70k "loan" and hasn't paid them back.

First off, he just had 30k lying around? Okay, I will ignore that. I know a little about his family's financial situation and it's not completely implausible (although unlikely).

However, the part Duke should be worried about is the loan. An improper benefit is defined by receiving a benefit any normal college student wouldn't be able to obtain. Like $70,000 line of credit, perhaps? That he hasn't paid them back I think makes it worse. Wouldn't that essentially be a 70k bonus while still in school?

And it's worth noting that he was on the 2010 National Championship team.

I don't know. I hate Duke, I like UNC. UConn should have been punished for the APR stuff, and they were. The retroactive punishment was BS. But UNC has fake classes which the NCAA said was ok, basically saying they prefer to punish players taking real classes and not being successful. NCAA is full of shit.

Apparently he bought 100k worth of jewelry with 30k down. The jewelry store gave him a 70k "loan" and hasn't paid them back.

First off, he just had 30k lying around? Okay, I will ignore that. I know a little about his family's financial situation and it's not completely implausible (although unlikely).

However, the part Duke should be worried about is the loan. An improper benefit is defined by receiving a benefit any normal college student wouldn't be able to obtain. Like $70,000 line of credit, perhaps? That he hasn't paid them back I think makes it worse. Wouldn't that essentially be a 70k bonus while still in school?

And it's worth noting that he was on the 2010 National Championship team.

Lol, a jeweler decide to give Lance Thomas a 70k loan, banking on the fact that he will become a NBA player. How is this Duke's problem?

Regardless, he's was a student with the income of $0. Who knows his credit history, but I'm going to guess it's not great for a 22 (?) year old college student. He also was obligated to pay it back in 15 days? 15 days for an unemployed college kid? Again, 15 days so his potential future earnings holds little ground.

And it was Lance Thomas of all players. I don't know exactly how that works, but it's not like he was a well known future first rounder. I mean, he didn't get drafted, nor was he expected to be. But even it were Kyle Singler, it would still be a impermissible benefit.

Also if this transaction was so clean, why did the jewelry place wait so long (2 years) to file this lawsuit?

It just all sounds sketchy to me.

People pile on the NCAA and, to an extent, rightfully so. Although you have to remember that they went after UCLA and Kansas in the past. Recently Ohio State and USC in football. If the problem is bad enough, they aren't going to just sweep it under the rug. They can't.

What I don't get is how some dipshit that has nothing gets $100,000 worth of jewelry. Why not get a car? Now, he's gonna walk back into the projects with no money, no ride, but some nice bling! That could have been a down payment on a house for his momma.